The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Stars No. 17 dropped in 2022 from Twist, an indie fragrance house whose numbered Stars series has become a kind of rolling experiment in sweetness. Number 17 leans fully into that philosophy, a fruit-forward gourmand that takes the strawberry note so many compositions tiptoe around and lets it lead without apology. The opening is built around strawberry, raspberry, and a sugar note that gives the whole thing a candied warmth, and rather than burying the fruit under competing ideas, the formula lets it stay in charge. It's a vegan composition, and the choice to keep things uncomplicated gives the scent a confidence that more crowded formulations often lose. There's a kind of generosity in the way the berries are allowed to just be berries for a while before the rest of the pyramid joins in.
What makes Stars No. 17 interesting is the restraint underneath all that sugar. Strawberry and raspberry pile up at the top, loud and jammy, but the heart pulls back with jasmine and violet, two florals that bring a powdery, almost vintage quality to the composition. That tension between fruity maximalism and floral softness is the whole game here. The base of amber and musk anchors everything in warmth without adding weight, so the sweetness never collapses into candy territory.
The evolution
The first spray is pure fruit, almost aggressive in its sweetness. Strawberry leads, raspberry chases, and there's a candied edge from the sugar note that makes the whole thing feel like biting into something fresh. Ten minutes in, the wild berries settle and jasmine starts threading through, turning the opening from candy shop into something more complex. Violet arrives quietly, adding that powdery, iris-adjacent softness that makes the heart feel lived-in rather than decorative. The transition into the base is gradual but noticeable. The amber warms everything from the inside, and the musk arrives not as a clean white veil but as something warmer, closer to skin than fabric. As the hours pass, most of the fruit fades, but the amber and musk carry a soft, sweet warmth that stays close to the body.
Cultural impact
Stars No. 17 occupies a specific niche within the wider landscape of berry-forward fragrances, offering a composition that takes sweetness seriously without sacrificing compositional balance. The use of strawberry, raspberry, and a candied sugar note gives it immediate recognizability, while the jasmine-violet heart and amber-musk base keep it from feeling like a one-note novelty. Within the context of the Stars series, the scent represents a commitment to fruit that goes deeper than most berry fragrances attempt.
